Showing Love to Your Fellow Writers

All the fine ladies here at GOT YA are writers and we've all been on the publishing roller coaster. Some, like Veronica Roth and Kathleen Peacock, have their sparkly new book deals and are just a few months from taking the Young Adult world by storm, and others are still searching for that perfect agent/writer magical bond to happen. So all of us here can sympathize with the ups and downs of this whole publishing thing and know how hard it is to get that precious manuscript turned into a book sitting on a Barnes&Noble book shelf. Writing becomes an obsession, and don't just think once you've got your deal it'll go away, because it won't. When your book gets to the point where the marketing department at the publishing house decides to send out those coveted shiny UNCORRECTED ADVANCED COPIES (ARCs) out to reviewers, you'll be setting your Google alert buttons. I promise you that.

How do I know that? Simple. I'm a book blogger and you wouldn't believe how many authors contact me after I post a review of their work. Yes, I'm one of those people who read ARCs and post for the world to see exactly what I thought about your book. Just yesterday, my Google alerts brought to my attention one author posted my review and a link back to me on her website. So you never know who's reading your blog.

Now, I know you are probably wondering: Okay, yeah, so what, Annie. How does this apply to a beginning writer like me? Well, my friend let me tell you. Everywhere you look, there is a blog post, article or something posted about "Building a Platform" for writers at every level in their writing career. Book blogging is an excellent way to keep the posts coming on your personal blog and reach other people in the writing community who share your taste in genres and writing styles. The only thing is, when you are a writer blogging about books, you have to not only make sure you post a truthful opinion, but make sure you do it in a respectful way. Am I saying RAVE about every single book you read? No, not at all. What I am saying is you never know about the future. Someone's book you are simply SLAMMING on your blog today may be in the same publishing house/literary agency as you some day, and what do you think they'll say about your book when they are approached to write a blurb/recommendation? Awkward, right? LOL Yeah, I think so too.

So here's my advice: Blog a lot, read a lot, write a lot and you can't go wrong. Try to find not only negatives in a book, but positives too. Remember, every book you read is somebody's baby. Do you want somebody to call your baby ugly? Nope, me neither, so don't forget to show some love to your fellow writers while making your splash in the publishing world.